


face the truth in this moment

by remi_mae



Series: you got me feeling like a super [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen, MCU/Batman crossover, Post-Avengers (2012)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-24 22:15:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20365975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remi_mae/pseuds/remi_mae
Summary: After returning from a trip to Gotham to look into rumours of the Batman, Tony and Steve fill Clint and Natasha in on what happened. It's needless to say that Natasha isn't very pleased when she learns that Gotham's vigilantes are on the younger side of things.





	face the truth in this moment

**Author's Note:**

> Aww yeah I'm turning this into a series - this is definitely readable as a stand alone, but it probably makes more sense if you've read the first part. If you don't want to read it though, just know that this is set in an amalgam of the MCU (set 2012, post Avenger's) and DC comics, though mostly focusing on just the Avenger's and the Bat Family; the first part of the story had Tony and Steve sent to Gotham to investigate rumours of a Batman, and instead found themselves meeting several other Gotham vigilantes - Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin and Robin.
> 
> It's mostly going to stick with just the Avenger's and the Bat family, but I'll probably make mention of other DC and Marvel heroes as time goes on. Marvel heroes (the ones in the MCU at least) are more likely to be mentioned, I'll admit. I might work some DC heroes in, like Superman or Wonder Woman, but I don't have as much knowledge about them as I do the Batfam or the MCU. The trinity will probably end up in these stories eventually though. (As it is, the Batgirls will probably just be mentioned for the time being, and Duke probably won't be included as of yet, simply because I haven't read many comics with him yet and don't really feel like I know him well enough to write him.)
> 
> Title from NCT 127's Superhuman

After a formal briefing with Fury and Hill, Tony wants nothing more than to retreat into his workshop and tinker away for a few hours - or at least until Pepper inevitably drags him out to eat something after the three or four hour mark. Unfortunately, he _had,_ more or less, agreed to tell the rest of the Avengers what had happened during his and Steve's trip to Gotham when they asked about it.

Well, Clint had _tried_ to ask, and Tony had waved him off with a "later, Katniss, I gotta deal with Fury first," which was... basically agreeing to tell them after. Even he had to admit that. Now the formal meeting was over, which meant he had to repeat the same damn story to everyone else - at least he could embellish some, and frankly, the rest of the Avengers were just more interesting to talk to than Fury any day of the week, regardless of what they were talking about. He didn't like Gotham, at all, but it would be an interesting conversation, if nothing else.

With Steve not far behind him, Tony makes his way into the main living area of the Avengers Tower. He lets himself collapse into the first empty seat he sees, letting out a sigh that he knows is far more dramatic than necessary.

"Well, you seem exhausted," is the first thing out of Natasha's mouth. Tony's not quite sure if it's supposed to be an observation or an insult. Honestly, knowing Natasha, it's both.

"Gotham does that to me." Clint lets out a snort of a laugh into his mug of coffee, looking up.

"You've been there before?"

Tony shrugs half heartedly. "Bruce Wayne holds a lot of galas and fundraisers. I've had to go to a few. Gotham's a shithole, but at least Wayne knows how to throw a party." Tony was honestly pretty sure that the mans butler does most of it, given what he knows about Brucie Wayne, which isn't much, admittedly. Tony tries to avoid Gotham at all costs, like most sane people, and he is not Wayne's biggest fan.

"So what happened?" Natasha asks, when it becomes clear Tony isn't going to start talking about the trip unprompted. Unsurprisingly, she doesn't aim the question at him, but at Steve.

"We didn't find the Batman like we were hoping to, but we met some, uh, others?" Tony doesn't need to be looking to know that both Clint and Natasha have the same look on their faces - mirrored looks of mild confusion and questioning.

"Others?" Natasha inquires, while Clint uses his mug to point at her, careful about spilling any of his precious coffee, before pointing it at Steve and Tony in turn, "you mean like other vigilante types?"

"Bingo." Tony says while Steve just nods, suddenly looking rather uncomfortable. Probably thinking about the probable ages of the other Gotham vigilante types. Or Red Hood's casual 'I died,' which Tony still doesn't quite want to believe, because it makes no sense. He has to admit his world has become much stranger than he once thought it was though. If he hadn't fought beside Captain America, Hulk and Thor during an attempted alien invasion, he might be able to deny it longer. As it is, he knows he has to be open to the possibility that the guy wasn't just screwing with them.

"So there are vigilante types but no Batman, or vigilante types _and_ a Batman?" Clint's clearly at least a little invested. He probably finds the whole thing kind of amusing, thinking of it almost like a television drama. But then again, he's a spy and assassin, so he's probably just more used to this kind of stuff than Tony is. Plus Clint just seems to be a bit of a weird one, if Tony's honest.

Tony lets himself think for a moment, while Steve just sort of shrugs.

"They said he was real, but we didn't see any Batman ourselves, so they could've been lying." Steve says, sounding a little hesitant. Maybe it's just the entire visit to Gotham, but he certainly seems a bit... off. Tony kind of gets it, because the entire thing has him a little shaken too, but weirder things have happened; they _are_ 'weirder things.'

"You actually _talked_ to them?" Natasha seems surprised, and Tony's not quite sure if it's because she thinks they wouldn't be willing to talk, or because she thought it wasn't a good idea to talk to strange vigilante types in a city where they, as outsiders, can't be sure if half the news is made up or not. (Admittedly, it _does_ sound like a horrible idea, but what else could they have done? Turn tail and run? They didn't even know anyone was there until they were right in front of them.)

"We did," Tony admits, waving his hand a little. "They're good, I have to give them that. Snuck up on both of us. We didn't notice them until they wanted us to." There's no saying just how long they stood there with vigilante types watching them. They could have gotten there moments before revealing themselves, or they could've been there pretty much since Tony and Steve had settled on the rooftop to try and scope out the city.

"Well, you're not exactly highly trained." Clint points out. "I surprise you all the time." This is also true, though several of those times have been because Tony's been in work mode. He didn't really notice anything around him while he was working in his workshop.

"I still don't like it," Steve says, though it was more mumbled than anything, probably not meant to be heard. Tony wants to roll his eyes, but he has to agree.

Natasha looks between the two of them. "Don't like what?" The 'what aren't you telling us?' goes unsaid, but it's obvious what she means.

It takes a minute before Steve actually says it. "How young they seemed."

"How young?" Natasha's voice is sharp - Tony doesn't know much about her past, but he knows child soldiers are a bit of a sore spot for her, hits a little too close to home.

"There were four of them. The oldest seemed like he was in his early twenties. They youngest might have been twelve. Bit hard to tell, honest. Masks and all." Tony admits. "Red Robin," Clint snorts into his mug, and Tony can't really blame him, "said the older two had been at it longer than I have."

The look on Natasha's face is not one that Tony likes. It seems to make Clint uncomfortable as well, and who can blame him? Kids, running around at night, especially in _Gotham_, doing what the police should be doing? It was enough to make anyone uncomfortable.

"I mean," Tony starts with a sigh, "their logic was pretty sound." Steve frowns, clearly not quite agreeing with him. And well, Tony doesn't like it either. A bunch of kids running around Gotham City as vigilantes, apparently for _years_ before superheroes had started to become more than just urban legends that couldn't be proved true. It didn't sit right with him. _But_, he had to agree with their logic. It was sound. It made sense.

"What was that logic then?" Natasha asks, clearly not quite buying it. Barely contained fury, that's how Tony would describe her tone of voice.

"That they were all going to do it anyway, regardless of who tried to stop them." Steve was the one who answered, to Tony's surprise. He was less surprised when he heard the annoyance in his voice.

Another sigh escapes his lips, and he shakes his head, waving Steve off. "More or less that. Nightwing said that Batman did try and get them to stop, but they were going to fight crime anyway. Isn't it better that they at least had an adult watching their backs?" It's something that's hard to argue with. Teenagers are stubborn little shits - they all know that. It doesn't mean it makes them comfortable, but at least it makes sense.

It makes it a little better, as long as they hadn't been lying about it, because it meant they hadn't been dragged into it, fighting crime, but rather done it of their own volition. Volunteers rather than conscripts, that sort of thing. But they aren't _soldiers_, they're just kids, and they shouldn't feel like they need to fight crime.

"I don't like it either, but their logic _does_ make sense. Doesn't mean I think they should be doing that - _no one_ should - but still. Sound logic is sound logic." Natasha still doesn't seem to agree, but Clint... he seems contemplative.

"It _is_ Gotham," Clint admits after a minute, setting his now empty mug down, "at least they're fighting crime and not causing it?" Tony points at him, lazily.

"Legolas makes a point." He leans out of the way to avoid the pillow Clint throws at him (that still hits him anyway, so he's not sure why he bothers) before settling back. "I don't like it anymore than any of you do, trust me. I just also don't think there's anything we can do." Natasha glares at him.

"I don't know - tracking them down and threatening to tell their parents might work on some teenagers." Tony makes a face, and Steve makes a slightly distressed noise, clearly not quite agreeing with her.

"Don't think it'd work." Tony says, and Natasha's eyebrows furrow. "They said they had, and I quote 'one decent, mostly, living parent and a grandfather.' Makes me think their parents either don't care, or are dead." Given it's Gotham, either one is a very viable option. "The little one slipped up and almost called Batman 'father' though. At least I think he did."

That seems to grab everyone's attention again.

"You think he's their father?" Clint asks, and Tony has to pause - does he think Batman is their father? The vigilante types had said they had one halfway decent parent, and if that was the Batman they'd heard about, that could make sense. It would also be very hard to talk your kids out of being a vigilante if you, yourself, were one - talk about hypocrisy. If your kids were going to be stubborn and be vigilantes anyway, whether you tried to talk them out of it or not, them being your sidekicks (or partners, as Nightwing had called them) would let you keep an eye on them. It would mean you know where they are, and know they have back up.

But Tony shrugs. "Honestly, I don't know what I think. He could be their father, or at least a father figure. Hell, his name could just start with a 'fa' sound and the little one just slipped up." Admittedly, he is pretty sure Robin had almost slipped up and referred to Batman as 'father.' Doesn't hurt that the way the lot of them were interacting makes Tony think they're brothers, or at least are very close and consider each other brothers.

Nightwing had also said they were family, or close enough. Family isn't just who you're biologically or legally related to, so it could just be they spend a lot of time together and it's a family of choice, rather than being actually related. That seems a little more likely to him, but honestly, what does he know about family?

Natasha still doesn't seem pleased, and Tony can't really blame her. He also thinks she's being rather stubborn and not seeing his (or the bat kids) logic. If she wants to go to Gotham and try and threaten them out of being vigilantes, she can go right ahead and try. She'd probably have an easier time finding them than he and Steve did, her being a spy and all. As it is, Tony still doesn't know why SHIELD decided to send him and Steve instead of her and Clint, but he's not going to question Fury's logic. Maybe they thought there wouldn't actually be anything, so why waste time sending better (actually trained) agents.

Maybe it was for the best, given how Natasha is reacting to just being told. Of course, while Clint doesn't seem to like it, he's obviously more open to the idea. Plus he has a point with the fact that at least they're trying to stop crime, rather than causing it. It's _Gotham_.

Tony doesn't like Bruce Wayne, but he's doing some good in the city; hiring ex-cons who only turned to crime because they were desperate, donating huge sums of money to homeless shelters, to making sure kids don't have to drop out of school, things like that. He can't do everything though, and there have to be a lot of kids who get roped into breaking the law for various reasons, just as there are adults who do. Sure, kids shouldn't feel like they need to get revenge for murdered parents, because the police should take care of that, but Gotham's not exactly known for it's fantastic police officers. There's not many places that are on par with Gotham, not to the same extent. Blüdhaven's about the only place that he knows of that's as bad (or worse, because at least Gotham has Wayne and apparently a Batman and at least four bat children.)

Tony lets out a huff, sitting up in his chair and leaning forward. "If you want to go to Gotham, try and find them and talk them out of being vigilantes, power to you. Somehow I doubt it would work. Nightwing said we were fifteen years late with Batman, and that he'd been working as Batman's partner for the longest. Clearly they know what they're doing, to an extent at least." Natasha starts to open her mouth to argue, but Tony cuts her off. "We know _nothing_ about them, okay? They might not even be as young as I think they are. For all we know, they're highly trained professionals who have been trained since birth or something." He doubts it, but still.

He knows he can jump the gun sometimes, but it's better not make any decisions until you have all of the information. They don't have _any_ of it, so they shouldn't be trying to make big decisions.

"Besides, SHIELD doesn't exactly have the power to go into a random city and tell people who are doing good to stop. They can't make them work for SHIELD either." That was the answer that Fury hadn't been all too pleased with. He'd told Fury what Nightwing had said, and what Fury did with it was up to him. If he wants to waste time in Gotham trying to track down people who don't want to be found because he didn't want to take 'no' for an answer, that was on him.

Natasha makes an annoyed expression for a moment, before her face goes blank and she sighs.

"I don't like it." She says, and Tony nods, because neither does he. "You unfortunately make a good argument though." That makes Tony smile a little. If she's agreeing with him, even vaguely, she's probably just annoyed and not actually angry, which is good. Angry Natasha is terrifying.

"Now that that's settled," Clint says, pulling himself off of the couch, where he's sat next to Nastasha. "I'm getting more coffee, and then you can tell us about these parties that Bruce Wayne apparently hosts." Tony lets out a small groan, leaning back again, but he's smiling. Natasha's not angry, instead pestering Clint into making her tea while he gets more coffee, and while Steve looks uncomfortable still, he's not arguing that they have to do something. What Fury and SHIELD want to do is up to them, and if it's stupid, Tony will tell them but he's not going to try and stop them. He has a feeling that if they don't give up trying to recruit the Batman and the other Gotham vigilantes, they'll have a harder time than they think they will.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if characterization seems a bit off. I'm getting used to writing these characters, and also sometimes their personalities can be contradictory from movie to movie, plus some of the comic characterization will probably bleed through - Clint in particular is certainly more comics!Clint than movie!Clint, but he didn't have much of a personality in the first Avenger's movie anyway, and I just really love Fraction's Hawkeye comics. I also didn't really know where I was going with this, but I wanted to write it? Like, I knew _what_ I wanted to write, but not _how_, you know?
> 
> (I'm not sure Nat's in character, but I also wanted someone to be dead set against the Bat boys being vigilantes due to their age, and I can see Clint not liking it, but having to agree with their logic, same with Tony, while Steve's mostly just uncomfortable with it.)


End file.
